Governance
Social media platforms have broken trust. They make promises about free speech and user control, then change the rules when it's convenient. TownSquare exists to prove there's another way. We're built as a nonprofit with structural safeguards that make it impossible for us to become what we're trying to replace. Without these commitments, TownSquare is just another platform. These principles aren't optional. This page explains how we stay different.
Anti-capture governance
TownSquare is a nonprofit. There are no shareholders, and no single person can make unilateral decisions. That structure is being written into our bylaws, not left to good intentions.
Governance is representative, not a flat one-person-one-vote system. A group of people whose job is to represent the user base, staying in touch with what users actually want and advocating for it in decision-making, governs TownSquare. Today that means people working within the organization. It's intended to extend to community representatives as the model matures.
You'll be able to have direct, tangible input in this process if you choose to, but the system won't depend on mass participation to work. It's built to represent user interests whether or not most users ever engage with governance directly.
The exact process for how representatives are chosen is still being formalized. A volunteer, community-moderator style model is one option under consideration. It will be defined in our bylaws, which are currently in progress.
Business model
We don't have a venture capital model forcing us to monetize your data. Our business model is built on donations, with optional creator subscriptions planned. That means your data stays yours.
TownSquare does not run ads and is not built to. Revenue comes from voluntary support, with optional creator subscriptions planned. Together they are the whole business model rather than most of it. Promising zero only rings hollow when the structure could change its mind later. Ours cannot without abandoning the reason it exists.
Your information is never brokered to third parties.
Revenue comes from voluntary support, with creator subscriptions planned.
As a nonprofit, we're committed to open books and independent audits, published where anyone can check them.
Free speech and moderation
Our moderation and speech standards are anchored in principles defended by the ACLU and FIRE, two organizations that defend speech cases across the entire political spectrum, not just one side of it. Citing both together is what viewpoint neutrality looks like in practice, not a partisan choice.
The operating principle is simple: a rule applies the same way regardless of who is speaking or what they believe. We don't invent our own definition of free speech, and we don't bend it case by case.
That said, free speech doesn't mean anything goes. The boundaries are harm-based, not offense-based. We prohibit content that causes direct harm, violence, non-consensual sexual content, targeted harassment, and illegal activity, not content that someone simply dislikes. These boundaries apply equally regardless of ideology or viewpoint.
When a post is removed or an account is suspended, that decision is reviewable. Users can appeal, and we intend to publish aggregate moderation statistics so patterns are visible, not just individual outcomes. The full documented appeals process is being formalized in our bylaws.
The same rule applies no matter who's speaking or what they believe. That's the operating principle, not a slogan.
We prohibit violence, non-consensual sexual content, targeted harassment, and illegal activity, not content people simply dislike.
ACLU and FIRE defend speech cases across the entire political spectrum. Anchoring to both is the viewpoint-neutrality commitment made visible.
Transparency
We treat transparency as a requirement, not a feature. That applies to two things: the algorithm that decides what you see, and the money that keeps the platform running.
Transparency isn't a feature. It's a requirement. We're committed to making the algorithm that decides what you see open and auditable, so you don't have to take our word that we're being fair. A plain-language explainer of how ranking works comes first. Opening the code follows.
We're mapping how posts move through the Trending feed and the ranked feed standing in for For You, every decision point, so the logic behind what you see is something you can read, not guess at. We'll publish it as it's ready.
When we change the algorithm, we'll log the change and explain it in plain language, with no quiet rollouts and no jargon. We're building that disclosure into our development cycle so accountability isn't optional.
Unlike venture-backed platforms that answer to investors, we answer to our mission and our users. You deserve to know exactly how we're spending money and what happens to any surplus.
Nonprofits have to file public tax returns anyway. We intend to go further, making our finances easy to understand instead of buried in legal filings, so you'll be able to verify we're running efficiently and that money goes where we say it does.
The point
If we abandon these principles, we become indistinguishable from the platforms we're trying to replace. That defeats the entire purpose. These commitments are the whole point.
